Who was it that said that the op-ed page would eventually be just comments from us. Oh yeah, me. Project Mind Control Phase One complete.

Owlie, to paraphrase Homer Simpson, you are so smart...you are so smart...SMRT...I mean SMART

I thought the Letters Editor was purged?

Hey, Mom, there are ants in my sandwich.

Where's the Kool-Aid?

I thought the Letters Editor was purged?

Probably have an intern doing it now.

Who do you figure the target market for this piece would be? I can only assume that you know about this because it was called to your attention because when I attemtped to find it on my own, it wasn't findable.

Is anyone else alarmed that this group is now "writing" the editorial page?

Blatant self-promotion alert ...

I can't believe that no one has heard of aquavit. See my latest guest post on Midnight Sun on the Nordic berserker fuel from the land of, uh, the midnight sun. I also weave Led Zepplin's "Immigrant Song" into the story.

We are your overlords!

Skål.

Eve - it wasn't findable online. People who only read newspapers online would be amazed to see all the things in the print edition that never make it to the online edition.

Yes, this is a plug for paper newspapers. Please subscribe to your local paper--whether you're mad at it or not. And also please subscribe to either of those two major East Coast papers so you can enjoy a serious newspaper.

And it was, in fact, on the editorial page, not the op-ed. Sort of an alarming development I have to say.

My son called me at work very excited because he saw "Joyce W" in the paper. aaah. My 15 seconds of fame!

Owl, thanks for the riff. Now I'm got the Immigrant Song pounding in my head over and over again.

oh well, could be Captain and Tenille.
Valhalla, I am coming!

OM, I was amazed as well.

Someone over there seems to be a serial whiner as well and doesn't appreciate your creativity-- I was going to poke her for fun but decided it would be best to ignore her.

It's more fun over here anyway.

Darn tootin' *◄:o)Yum~ --the most fun you can have on a blog (assuming a certain level of literacy, that is!)

Eve, it bothers me.

Joyce, don't forget to visualize the kittens while screaming "The Immigrant Song."

You're welcome Joyce. The post started out with the opening lines "I'm from the land of the ice and snow...", but in the mysterious editing process that was chopped out, yet the more obscure ending lines were left in rendering it different than my intention. Maybe it was too long for opyright purposes.

Yay for YumPo. Someone there doesn't like me at all (LOL!!!), but as I said in my comment to her, 'your scorn only makes me stronger."

I kind of like dating two blogs.

Joyce W., I'm impressed that your son reads anything beyond the Sports section--you should be proud!

Eve, I guess after the events of last week, we shouldn't be surprised. Maybe they are trying to appeal to that target market that would be more apt to read online and comment in the blogs...hmmm...

I subscribed to the paper version for years and finally cancelled when the content was reduced to almost nothing interesting. I still subscribe to the Other Major Paper just south of us, and though its content is not what it once was (I can read the Sunday paper in less than an hour now), it still has interesting articles and decent writing. I miss some of the Sun's local coverage, but our weekly community tabloid seems to fill the gaps.

I dunno, YP. The local weekly tabloid seems to be sliding some, too. Perhaps it is the lack of competition?

Owlie, I don't know how anyone could not know about aquavit. After all this week's episode of New Scandavian Cooking spent half the show on aquavit. The other half, as it is every week, was spent on herring.

The local community papers are also getting thinner and thinner and from what I hear are also in deep financial doo doo.

Okay RoCK it's on! That's the second one today. Herring slap fight at noon tomorrow in The Village of Cross Keys in front of the Fashion Bug! I'm takin' you down, downtown to Chinatown! Okay. that doesn't make sense but Vengeance Will Be Mine!

Ahhhhhrrrrrrrr..... Cowboy up Robert it's Go Time! Say 6 ish

My local community paper (the East Baltimore Guide) has never been terribly impressive.

When I lived in Annapolis, I subscribed to the paper there, The Capital. It was neat that it was an evening paper rather than a morning one. It also was delivered regularly, unlike the Sun.
It helped me keep abreast of the local happenings and upcoming road closures. Road closures are important in Naptown as there are few ways to get home, should the main drag be closed.

Owlie, you realize if you rumble with me on my turf that you'll have to deal with my boyz. And by my boyz I mean the six, spry, senior citizens that comprise the security patrol of the Village of Cross Keys.

Oh it's on RoCK. Just be aware that I am bringing my own crew –six Goth girls with B12 deficiencies and fierce tattoos on their lower backs who will sneer your dudes into osteoporosis shock. It's on!

Oh, come on, Hal! You don't love the monthly picture of the Audubon bird walk in Patterson Park, with the nearly full page article on how many ducks were seen?

Not to mention those restaurant reviews!

(The Guide's crime column is much better than the Sun's, though.)

The Guide's crime column is the best.

True, Lissa and Owl, the Guide's crime blotter does make for amusing reading.

The Guide also has really good real estate ads. Not that I can buy. And church supper notices. I love to eat the cooking of the ladies of the church.

The articles tend to be really bad, though. The restaurant reviews are about what the vegetarian daughter with no palate is willing to eat.

I get annoyed when I don't get a copy on my stoop, as much as I dis the Guide.

In NE Baltimore there used to be a small community paper called The Rooster. They would send a letter to local restaraunts asking them to send in a review of themselves. All of the reviews were glowing.

I subscribed to the paper version for years and finally cancelled when the content was reduced to almost nothing interesting.

Decades. I subscribed for decades. Even when the "Sunday" paper was on my lawn when I arrived home on Friday evening. Even when my neighbors helped themselves to my paper because it was tossed on their lawn instead of mine. Even when the grammar was hideous and the perspective that of an 8th grader. Even when I was told that my paper was not considered "late" until 9 a.m. Even when Matt Seidel and David Simon and Tom Horton left. Even when I realized that it was actually cheaper to buy the paper from the guy on the median strip. Even when the Editorial endorsements became so predictable and such an embarassment.

Then, one day, enough was simply enough.

The local community papers are also getting thinner and thinner and from what I hear are also in deep financial doo doo.

The Topsy Turvy Tomato Planter has a limited advertising budget!

When I used to be a paper boy back in the 70s, the Wednesday paper was bigger than the Sunday paper is today.

I used to buy the Sun on Sundays, Fridays and on the rare occasion I could find one, Saturdays. I only bought it for the NY Times crossword, because the Friday and Saturday ones are the hardest (pen only). I felt so guilty about the shear amount of paper I was throwing out that I stopped buying it years ago and just bought a book of the tough NYT xcrosswords.

When I said that we would be supplying content for the op-ed page, I wasn't being smart or clever, I was being cynical.

I get annoyed when I don't get a copy on my stoop, as much as I dis the Guide.

Lissa, I had to get over that, or I'd be annoyed most of the time. The Guide's crack delivery people miss my side of my block more times than not.

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO................................................

Got a tip from kimmer1850:

I was just on Chowhound's "Not About Food" board when I ran across a lovely little diatribe from our old friend Springs1. Only now she has changed her handle to Springs131. Check it out. You'll find it near the bottom third of the page.

http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/615411

Eve, you described it far better than I did.

PCB Rob, I also subscribed to The Capital, so at the time, I had three daily newspapers. The Capital was fun. It's not so much online, although the restaurant "reviews" are hilarious. Not in a ha-ha, funny, good way.

Eve, did you mean Matt Seiden? Or am I remembering that wrong?

Hal, I've learned to snag a Guide from a vacant house on my way from the bus stop.

The Detroit newspaper strike broke me of my lifelong morning paper habit. I still miss it.

Eve, did you mean Matt Seiden?

Hey! I got a lot of the letters right!

I was just on Chowhound's "Not About Food" board when I ran across a lovely little diatribe from our old friend Springs1. Only now she has changed her handle to Springs131.

Perhaps she's been cloned and there are now 130 more of her to love and cherish?

*◄:o)Yum~ suppress that thought at once!

But why am I not surprised that she gets passionate about Strawberry Shortcake martinis (gack) and ranch dressing?

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

[Shaking fist at the sky]

Hold onto your wigs and keys it's the Attack of the SpringBots

Yum,
You're spot on, the reviews were laughable.
The Capitol was only something to read while I ate dinner. But when I found out I had to move down here, I hoarded them for packing material.

Their online site leaves much to be desired.

Lissa,
I remember the Detroit newspaper strike. That was a terrible thing that should have never gone on as long as it did. I couldn't believe how a couple of newspapers riled the folks up as much as they did.

I'm late to the party again! Lissa, it turns out that more and more church kitchens are being taken over by the men. I know a congregation in Harford County where the men do a killer breakfast (throw your donation in the basket on the way in), another in Frederick where the monthly parish supper is prepared by men in whites, and I was roundly teased by a congregation near St. Louis this week where their men did a "Homecoming Whole Hog Roast" over against the "Ladies Homecoming Tea" in my old parish years ago. (I had to promise to send pictures of my Sanelli cleaver to reclaim my, uh, reputation.)

Don't know if I can eat the men's cooking, MD Canon .

Back in the 50s or 60s when the NYC papers went on strike for what seemed like forever, is when the 11 o'clock news became half an hour instead of 15 minutes. I think the 6 o'clock news expanded then, too.